By Thaddeus Flint
It was dogs, roads, money, and power lines at the Stephentown Board meeting Tuesday, September 19. Some residents might recall that Stephentown recently passed a new dog licensing law. Well, they are going to do it again.
According to Town Clerk Stephanie Wagar, the previous law provided for three year dog licenses. The problem with that is some rabies vaccinations are only good for one and two years, so there could be a lapse when the Town isn’t certain the dog has been properly vaccinated. The new law would require dogs to be licensed every year. Some other minor adjustments were made in regard to kennel license fees for people that keep more than four dogs, as well as a State surcharge fee for those dogs under a kennel license.
A public hearing on the updated dog licensing law will be held at the Town Hall on October 16 at 7 pm. “Do we really have to have a public hearing on this?” asked Councilman P.J. Roder. The answer to that was “yes.” Wagar said that there were too many changes to the previous new law, thus the requirement that Stephentown once again hold a public hearing on a subject they just recently had a public hearing on.
It was another expensive month for Stephentown’s roads. The Highway Department, amongst other expenses, spent $41,067 on “double chipping” for Wolf Den, Goold, Bert Hager, and Winslow Roads. Another $27,434 went toward machine rentals for work on Madden and Cemetery Hill Roads. “Aldi, you are draining the bank account on us,” said Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt. “It’s that time of the year,” replied Highway Superintendent Aldi Goodermote. And there’s move work to come. C.C. Dam Road is “definitely” planned for paving next week, added Goodermote.
Money isn’t just going out of Stephentown, some is actually coming back in. Eckhardt reported that second quarter sales tax money came in at $68,570, which was “slightly larger this year” than the same quarter in 2016. The State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund also paid $2,315 to Stephentown as part of fines received. Eckhardt was surprised how small that number was. He believed that the Courts took in over double that. It turns out that much of those fines were made up of speeding tickets, many of which were from people speeding to and from the recent music festivals in Town. “We get to keep next to nothing” on speeding violations said Eckhardt.
The Town’s summer camp, however, turned in $1,868, money it made from parents that made use of the camp’s “early drop-off program,” said Stephentown Library President Scott Menhinick. “Super-duper,” said Eckhardt. “Obviously, there is a need there and parents are taking advantage of it.”
Menhinick also reported that Interim Library Director Kim Roppolo has recently been appointed Library Director. “She has done a great job,” said Menhinick.
Some residents–mostly those who spent the last few years tormented by energy behemoth Kinder Morgan’s plans for a gas pipeline on or near their properties—are once again finding themselves in the way of yet another energy company’s plans. According to David Flint of Calvin Cole Road, abutters of the power lines coming through Stephentown were recently contacted by an energy company with a new plan to possibly add another transmission line there. There has been some indication that adding another line could require as much as 100 feet of land. Flint wanted to know if the energy company would be holding a presentation during the October 9 Budget Workshop meeting. The answer to that is “no.” Supervisor Eckhardt said that while he has been trying to get the company to come in to apprise residents of what might be on the table as far as new power lines, no date has been set yet. The reason for this is that there are several companies all hoping to get some of this work, but “none have been chosen yet,” said Councilman William Jennings. However, “we will have a public hearing in the future,” confirmed Eckhardt.
At the end of the night five resolutions were passed with all voting in favor. Two were to authorize the Town Clerk to advertise for snow removal at the Town Hall and Transfer Station and to advertise the dates of Budget Workshops. The third resolution was to authorize a letter of engagement with the Town’s Attorney, Craig Crist. And the final resolution clarified work hours of the Town’s elected officials and employees for the purpose of retirement reports.
The next regular meeting of the Town Board will be Monday, October 9 at 7 pm, and the public hearing on the budget will be held October 23 at 7 pm.